| The KLINGSPOR tradition began in the late 1800’s in Germany.
The KLINGSPOR facility, now located in Haiger, Germany, is the cornerstone for KLINGSPOR operations worldwide.
The tradition of excellent products, knowledgeable personnel, and prompt, courteous service that started
in Germany was carried to the United States by our president, Christoph Klingspor, the grandson of the company’s founder.
KLINGSPOR brought fresh, new ideas and
products to the United States, throwing away the existing tired abrasive
culture.
Here begins the history of KLINGSPOR as it best relates to the United States
markets - a better solution for industrial abrasive users nationwide. |
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1979
Christoph Klingspor opens
KLINGSPOR Abrasives facility on Highway 64-70 East in Hickory, NC. |
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1980
| Production begins with less than 20 people. |
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| Construction begins on new 60,000 sq ft building at present location - 2555 Tate Blvd, SE, Hickory, NC. |
1985
New facility occupied. |
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| 1987 |
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Ventura opens as
distribution warehouse for West coast sales operation. |
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1988
Construction of an
additional 60,000 square feet begins at Hickory, North Carolina facility. |
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| 1989 |
| Occupation of new
addition in Hickory. |
| 1990 |
| KLINGSPOR Ventura moves to larger building. |
| 1991 |
| Abrasive belt manufacturing begins in Ventura,
CA facility. |
| 1998 |
| KLINGSPOR opens manufacturing operation in Tijuana, Mexico. |
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| March 1999
KLINGSPOR California moves to new larger facility in Oxnard, CA with
wide belt making capacity. |
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July 1999
KLINGSPOR Mexico occupies its own building in Tijuana, Mexico. |
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| KLINGSPOR LOGO |
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The
KLINGSPOR logo is one of the more unique and
recognizable logos in the world of
industrial supplies. |
The very sight of it
strikes fear into the hearts of abrasive competitors
and brings a warm feeling to those who actually use
the product. With a history as long as KLINGSPOR’s,
the evolution of a “logo” is a process that changes
as the company changes and as the world markets
change. |
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KLINGSPOR
early on utilized three logos. One of the
logos incorporated a crown with a castle.
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The castle was used because KLINGSPOR was originally located in Siegen,
Germany and the castle was a depiction of
the castle in Siegen. The use of this logo
became difficult when selling to countries
that recognized royalty as leaders or
figureheads. A crown could not be employed
on anything that was not associated with the
throne. So eventually this version of the
KLINGSPOR logo was discontinued.
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A
second logo used the image of a
deer. A deer appeared prominently
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in the
KLINGSPOR family crest so this seemed an
interesting way to integrate a bit of the
family into the corporate identity.
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Lastly, an old car was used as a
part of one of the original
KLINGSPOR logos. |
After
traveling to the United States to study the
abrasive needs of a major car manufacturer,
Carl Klingspor was requested to work on a
new idea - wet or dry use sandpaper. With
tenacity and hard work, Carl Klingspor
invented and patented the product. Naturally
a car would suit as a logo for Klingspor as
they became embroiled in the manufacture of
this material.
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As
time went on, KLINGSPOR realized
that multiple logos were not
accomplishing the goal of instant
recognition. |
It was
decided in the late 1960’s to consolidate
and have only one logo. The sales manager
during this time, Manfred Birkelbach, came
up with the initial draft of the logo that
is recognized today. With the help of Walter
Klingspor and Gottfried Solms, a fine-tuning
process was completed and the current
KLINGSPOR logo was in place.
So what does the KLINGSPOR logo mean?
Literally translated, the “spor” part of the
word KLINGSPOR means “spur”, thus the shape
of a spur in the center of the logo.
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